Lil' Red Express Truck

[Haney]

What are these trucks worth... It is a 1979, All options (Adventure, buckets, Air, etc. ) It is a running driving truck. The body is straight with only a little rust in the drivers floor. The seat needs recovering and the dash is cracked. The stacks are gone too. The owner has new wood for the bed (sides and bottom). The truck would have to be painted, but my family has a body shop so that is not an issue.



Any guesses?



Thanks,

 

[ETOBICOKE]

Lil Red Express

These trucks are getting fairly rare now, I had one, sold it 9 years ago for $3k, it was in very good shape. So the story goes, to order one of these trucks the dealer had to select 3 option packages, the engine, the interior and exterior trim. I have seen original ones that had the wrong engine, and the wrong interior, so check everthing carefully . 78 models have the police interceptor motor with no emissions, most of them were sold in Canada for this reason. 79 models may have either, early ones sometimes have a PI motor and later ones have smog controls on them. A few were made in 80 with heavy emissions on them. You can tell the PI motor by the air cleaner, it has dual ducts and at least a chrome lid. There are several web sites for these trucks, this one has specs for the different years. http://www.arms-soft.com/lrt1/lil_red.html

These trucks are very fast even in stock form, they would eat a Vette of the same era, but was hard on fuel, about 2. 5 hours on the highway would eat the whole tank, must of been that huge throttle pedal they had. Had to be careful driving it, could lite up the tires very easily pulling away. These trucks make a wicked vapour trail in cold weather. About the only anoying thing about the truck was keeping the stacks and wood in good shape. Never did find a wood finish that would last over a year. The exhaust system also needed a fair bit of attention, the short pipe under the stacks coming from the muffler doesn't last long, neither do the mufflers.

Found some photos of mine just after I re-painted it back in 85, befor the wood and trim was back on.



Neil

 

[LarryB]

Seems to me this would make quite a hotrod with a 500hp 6BTA in it. Easy swap too.

 

[tgbol]

ETOBICOKE

You seem to know your older Dodge P/U's. When I was younger a friend of mine had a Dodge Palomino P/U. (1964?) It was the only one I have seen. Do you know anthing about them?

This one was yellow with black interior. The seats were buckets out of a Polara with a little console. The enigine was a 413 and 727 trans (push button). It also had blaack striping and lettering on it. It was a fun truck to drive back then!

 

[ETOBICOKE]

Palamino

Can't say that I have ever heard of one, but Dodge was known for selling some of their experiments.

From the name, it might have been a competitor for the Ranchero and El Camino. For example, the Lil Reds came about when Dodge was stuck with 2500 PI motors from a cancelled patrol car order. Since they had no emissions on them they could only be used in a truck. More of them ended up in Canada, because we were about 2 years behind most US states on emission control regulations at that time. Some where there is an original big block Lil Red with a 4 speed and was sold by a dealer in Brampton Ontario, I have met the original owner and have seen the bill of sale for it. Funny thing is that based on the vin # Dodge has no record of ever producing it.



Neil

 

[mongoose]

from what i have seen the 78 model is the most desirable year. I have not heard the story of the Police Interceptor motors, but it does not surprise me. From the research i did a couple of years ago on a 79 i was looking at purchasing, the main difference was the GVW rating. In 78, a truck did not have to have emissions on it. In 79, they raised the GVW rating that required emissions, thus the 79's had to have all of the emissions. The tale is that this was the last factory hotrod from dodge during that time period.

 

[JHansen]

Ever seen a Bighorn?

Not the Class 8 truck either... . a pickup! There was one in this part of the world about 15 years ago. It was an '81 D150 shortbox with the 360-4V and 727. Dark blue in color with the gold filligree pinstriping and the turbine aluminum wheels, but with Bighorn badges where the Ram badges usually go on the front fenders. Interior was special too-buckets and console with the buckets being trimmed in sheepskin-the interior was tan. Course it was loaded right to the hilt too...



The 1st guy that had it around here yanked the 360 and slammed in a built-up 340. When he tired of the truck, he put the 360 back in and sold it to another local kid who ran it for a while, then sold it to another 16 year old kid. Not sure where it ended up after that. God I'd like to have that truck now... . would make a neat toy with a 440 in it! My brother actually looked at buying it when it went for sale the 1st time-but it had some wiring gremlins so he passed. Too bad-I'd have it in my possession now if he had bought it.....



Jason

 

[Paul]

Dodge also built a " Warlock " it was black with gold trim, no stacks. I understand the stacks are very hard to find for the Little Red.

 

[Bad340fish]

The 78s were rated as a 5/8 ton truck. Anything over 1/2 ton DID NOT have to have emisions. In 1979 that would not fly so they had converters on them. They are very hard to find!! A friend of my dads has had a 78 since day one. He actualy had to tell the dealer about them as they had no clue what they were lol.



I would not call them a powerhouse by any means but they were the fastest thing 0-100 in 1978. Of course in 1978 all cars sucked lol. My dads friend drove his everyday for around 15 years. Him and my dad raced there daily drivers at the drags one day for the hell of it. His Lil Red with over 250K on it still ran 15. 60s!!



I know those stacks make one hell of a mess of things when it rains and they get water in them. The bed rails and fenders are usualy covered in black soot on those things if they get used as drivers.



Clark